Tooth and Claw
by TalionStormcrow
Summary: After solving a murder case, Zepp and Fang, Two weasels with a knack for case solving go on a quest to solve the weirdest case of their careers. When they investigate the scene of a gruesome attack they find that no logical explanation can be created to rationalize the incident. Now the question remains... What are you getting at Zepp?
1. Case 'X'

**"Go then, there are other worlds than these. "- The Dark Tower, The Gunslinger**

 _" We don't even know what_ it _is... And now you're asking me to stake it out hoping that by some otherworldly force it will come seeking it's next meal? "_

 _"Yea. Your point?"_

 _"My point being that even if it does come.. How do you think we're going to capture it? From what we've seen so far it looks more like a monster than a regular animal."_

 _"Exactly why you're staking it out, don't worry, I'll be nearby."_

 _" How did you even make it this far without dying again? "_

 _"I've often wondered the same thing.. Then again... It's all part of the job isn't it?"_

The forest was quiet this hot summer morning, and the mist was heavy. It was the sort of day that you might fancy yourself a sort of stroll or run through, or perhaps indulge yourself in some metaphysical practice. But today this mist was eerie, and it held within it a questionable character that most would find quite queer. Here we see two weasels, pacing around a patch of the forest, seemingly looking for something.

"See anything Zepp?" The grey colored weasel asked, he was wearing a hide garb, carried a bone sword, dagger, arrows and a bow, which was hanging around his chest. He had a rather peculiar scar on his eye, probably from a rather nasty encounter with another animal. If you asked him, he would have told you to mind your own business.

"Besides some animal droppings from an early breakfast... No, I haven't." This weasel was brown, wearing the same kind of hide garb with the same weapons. This one was wearing a necklace with a wooden carving of an owl around his neck. On his hand was a design, a tribal owl, if you looked closely you could see it was scarred on there, probably from some ceremony... Or not, he'll never tell you.

They were investigators... And what they were investigating was a murder case, currently almost solved.

"Hey Fang... Look at this." Fang turned around and looked at Zepp, who was holding a piece of a bone from a dead animal. Zepp pretended he was a monkey, making the sounds and beating the bone on the ground. "You know I think at least once in your entire career you could take something seriously, after all this was done by our own tribe member." Both of them heard a noise, and turned around, they saw a weasel, trying to make a run for it. Zepp looked at Fang, "After you." He motioned with his hands, pointing them in the direction of the fleeing animal. Fang ran after him, Zepp traveling close behind.

"STOP! Running will only make it worse!" The weasel they were chasing looked behind him, panting as he ran away, he didn't turn around in time to notice the hill that he was barreling towards and began to tumble, grunting in pain as he did so. Fang stopped at the top of the hill, and Zepp ran down it, careful not to trip on anything as he descended. "Always on the move..." Fang said to himself. He sighed and grabbed his bow, readying an arrow. The fleeing weasel hit the ground... Hard. Zepp followed right behind him, moving at such a quick pace he couldn't pick up his feet and tripped over him. Zepp rolled and turned, facing the suspect, "Stay where you are!" He walked over, Fang covering him. "You are being placed under arrest for the murder of Boris Redstone."

The suspect resisted a bit, "He was scum. Deserved it me thinks. I doubt I'll be getting out of this one alive gentlemen, might as well finish it now and save the pain eh?" The suspect gave a psychotic smile, his eyes were bloodshot and he had what seemed like no sense of reality in his demeanor. "I don't think so Dale, come on, you're going to be brought to justice." Fang walked up beside Zepp, "Pretty good running down that hill eh?" Fang smirked, "next time you should try using your feet to land instead of your face." Zepp laughed, "Come on now... You have to give me points for originality. I saw you hesitate." Fang responded in a serious tone, "Well Zepp I think it may be because that hill was about a sixty-five degree decline...I don't know about you but I don't enjoy eating dirt while running after criminals."

Zepp and Fang looked at each other, and both started to laugh. They took Dale back to their tribe, he was sentenced and put away. "Well, another one bites the dust Zepp, good work out there." Just then a random villager burst into their hut, she was balling her eyes out and hyperventilating. "Guys! Come quick! Something has my daughter!"

Zepp and Fang looked at each other, and ran after her, they followed her to a trail in the forest, and in the middle of it lay a gruesome scene: a little weasel, female laying in a contorted position on the ground, her flesh was completely stripped away and her chest was marked by three very deep gashes. The woman fell to her knees and cried, mourning the loss of her child. "Zepp take this woman back to the village." He did, leaving Fang alone to inspect the scene.

"Let's see what we have here..." He kneeled down by the body, and inspected her. _This is obviously the child... Female... Possibly the age of six or seven. Body appears to have been dragged, handled by something very large... VERY LARGE... Both legs are broken, as are the arms, curiously enough the flesh has been stripped entirely from the body... With extreme precision._ He turned the body over and was perplexed by what he saw... _Very deep bite marks on the back... Almost like wolf bite marks..._

Zepp appeared behind him. "So what have you found out?" Fang stood up. "This is the child-"

"Judging by the mothers reaction to seeing the body I'd say the same."

"Funny... Zepp look at this.. The flesh has been torn off the body completely with excellent precision. Even more curious are the bite marks on her back. They're wolfish." He turned the body over, giving Zepp a chance to see. "Where's the blood?"

Fang hadn't even thought of that. "I don't know..."

"So what do you think happened here?"'

Fang looked at Zepp,"That's just it Zepp...I can't explain this one... It defies logic. We have a wolf that tears off the flesh of its victims and bites into them, but doesn't eat them.. And seemingly drains them of their blood? That isn't at all their nature. None of this is natural." Zepp kneeled down, and stared at the fleshless form.

"Maybe it isn't 'natural' we are dealing with."


	2. Odds and Ends

"OK... So what do you think it is?"

"If I told you would you think I was crazy?"

Fang stood there for a second, "Maybe."

Zepp smiled. "Do you remember when we were kids, we used to hear stories about how if we didn't listen to our parents then the forest monsters would get us? You got so scared you peed-"

"Your point?" Zepp stood up. "There are legends of a mythical creature, the Moshikba."

Fang raised an eyebrow, "The 'Moshikba'?"

"Yes, essentially it is a creature which was born half saber half wolf. It tends to feed off of its victims by draining their blood, then taking the skin and secreting a bacteria which allows the nutrients to drain from it, replenishing it's life force."

"So... You think that this 'Moshikba' killed this child?"

" Yes."

"You're crazy. You've been listening to old Daffer too much."

"Old Daffer is wiser than you think."

"Clearly."

Zepp glared at Fang. It was clear he wasn't open to theories beyond his own perspective of things. "I guess there's no reason to fear then. Probably just a freak occurrence done by nature."

Fang crossed his arms, "Can we go now?" Zepp smiled, "Yea, it's getting dark anyway. Come on, let's head back."

 _That night.._

The fires were illuminating the ground around the huts, silence became prominent in the village, and everyone was sleeping. In the distance the wolves sang, the sabers growled and the crickets chirped. It was a full moon, and a beautiful one at that.

That is... Until a villager couldn't sleep and left the safety of their hut. The weasel traveled out into the forest, and in the mist began to move almost enticed to the beauty of the darkness. The shadow of a monstrous figure stood in front of her, waiting. She stopped, and stared at the figure, curious as to what it was. The figure began to growl, and the weasel stopped, almost as if she was suddenly aware of what was going on.

Zepp was woken up by a primal scream, and loud growls. The whole village awoke and in the chaos Zepp ran to Fangs hut, "Fang! Fang get up!"

Fang was laying down on his back, the blanket partially covering him. Zepp grabbed the first thing to his left: a wooden bowl. He filled it with water and walked over to Fang, and poured the water on his face. Fang woke up and cried out, slapping the bowl out of Zepps hand. "ZEPP!" He looked at Zepp and immediately covered his nether regions."Ugh, what do you want?"

"There's been another murder. I think you should see this." Fang covered his face with one hand, annoyed at his rude awakening. "Alright... Get out and let me get dressed." Zepp left and waited, Fang appeared ten minutes later in his garb and gear. "Lead the way." They both walked out to the scene, carrying torches. In the mist it was hard to see, but they found what they were looking for. By a tree was the body of a woman.

"Zepp... She's female." They both inspected the body, Zepp turned her over and noticed the same bite mark on her back. "Looks like our murderer is fond of using his teeth."

Fang started observing and noting what he saw, "Its a weasel, female, this one is older though... Skin torn off in the same fashion as the previous victim. Signs of a struggle is indeterminable due to lack of markings, no skin found on hands... No blood.. no nothing... The victim didn't even fight back... Gashes are found on the victims chest. This is just like our last victim."

"At least we know our criminal prefers the females." Fang glared at Zepp, who was busy checking out the area around the body. He stopped by a tree and looked at it, "Hey Fang... I found something." Fang got up, "Well that was perhaps the most serious tone I've heard you speak in today. He looked over by the tree, Zepp pointing at a symbol in the bark. It was of a circle, and inside the circle was a person with what appeared to be something attached to its arms and legs. "It looks like some sort of cult symbol."

"So this person kills people for some sort of religious reason?"

"Can't be a personal belief."

Fang looked at Zepp, "Well what's the difference?"

"For a person to have a 'religious' belief.. The person of interest must have a philosophy on a topic and have that philosophy be based on some sort of religious context, the uh... Humans believe that some sort of human being created the planet, you can walk into a cave and find depictions of what obviously looks like a being of great importance, its size in the picture larger than the humans to represent it's greatness or importance to them. Now, a personal belief is one in which a person goes off of what they perceive to be real, having a personal belief means you don't conform to a singular entity in the world, for example God. To have a personal belief, you would need to strip away from the simple mind and become vulnerable to everything around you. I could tell you that my personal belief is that we were all created by a giant potato-"

"That would be something you would say to me."

"My point being... This person is acting off of a personal impulse to satiate his or her need to satisfy their own belief."

"You're talking about sacrifice?"

"Yea... But to who... Or what?"

Zepp walked away from the symbol, Fang following behind him. "There's nothing more here for us. Come on, let's head back, we'll talk to the King about this."

They walked back and entered the kings hut, inside there were desks and shelves made out of wood, full of books and scrolls. There were banners hanging down the walls, nearly touching the floor. "King Locke, we need to talk about these attacks." Locke came up to them, a serious look in his eye, he was a bit pudgy, shorter than the two, but smart and logical. "Yes... I have heard, quite the interesting case you two have on your hands. It seems that this person/creature you are investigating has no sense of subtlety."

"We don't have much to go off of. I'm not even sure what we are looking for..." Fang wasn't one to go off on wild children stories. He needed evidence to support such an outlandish claim. Zepp on the other hand was willing to entertain the thought. "I think what we are dealing with may be-"

"We don't know what it is exactly, the murders are performed in such a weird manner that defies logic, however I hardly think now is the time to start creating theories that are outside our field of expertise." Fang looked at Zepp, the tension rising. Locke addressed them both, "Alright you guys, continue your work. Please bring this person to justice, the panic level in this village is rising and that doesn't bode well to my image."

Zepp and Fang walked out, "Where do we go with this, Zepp? We have two victims, both female, no way to identify what it is exactly that's killing them, and no way to identify the thing that's doing the killing."

"Well there isn't much we can do right now... I'm going to head back to the scene, check it out a bit more." Fang sighed, "Alright. I'm going to hang here, try to find out who it was that was killed." Zepp nodded and walked away. Fang watched him, he couldn't figure it out, but he had a bad feeling, what about he didn't know.

Zepp walked about the crime scene, _What am I even doing here..._ He walked over to the body, and noticed something weird about this one... He kneeled down to get a closer look... Engraved in the weasels arm was a sentence... " _Hear me.."_ Behind him he heard a growl, and turning around he pulled out his sword, preparing for an attack.

 **Alright, chapter done! This going to get pretty interesting, and I'm it'll have you guys wondering. I wanted to do something a little different with the characters, after reading the crime fic "3 Murderers" I decided I wanted to try one. Would love to know how I'm doing!**


	3. New Development

Zepp was expecting the worst, being an investigator you would have to be used to people wanting to prevent you from finding the truth. He was, well at least partially. He kind of hoped it was going to be the person who committed the surprisingly he didn't get his wish... In front of him was a saber.

The saber spoke, "Now what is a weasel doing outside of his tribe?" He spoke in a low monotone, his hazel eyes fixed uponZepp, who didn't appear fazed in the slightest about being in the presence of such a fierce predator. "That's none of your business, tell me saber, what's your name?"

"You aren't even going to try to run?" The saber stood up, he didn't seem interested, now he was more puzzled.

" No? Why... Should I?" He shook his head, his intuition told him that this saber was different, it wasn't normal for one to lose interest so quickly, or even give up on prey. "I mean.. You ARE in my territory-"

"All the more reason for you to kill me, but seeing as you haven't already I'm thinking you're more interested in what I'm doing. Diego sat on his haunches, _Huh, he's pretty good. "_ So what ARE you doing in my territory?" Zepp cleared his throat, "I'm investigating a murder." Diego raised an eyebrow at this, "A murder?" Zepp nodded, "Yes... Tell me Diego... You wouldn't happen to have seen anything... Strange around here have you?"

Diego shrugged, the weasel seemed so at ease, lowering his guard like this in front of a saber? A SABER nonetheless. "Other than you wandering around here.. No not really. Why? Should I have?" Zepp nodded again, "Look... If I were you, I wouldn't be coming around here anymore. It isn't safe here."

"FREEZE!" Diego turned around to find another weasel pointing his bow at him, Zepp smiled, "Fang, come to join the party? I was just getting acquainted with our friend here... This is his territory apparently." Fang looked at Diego, "Did you do this?" Diego shook his head, _This is crazy..._ "No, why?" Fang lowered his bow, "We're looking for... Something. Whatever did this murdered this woman and took her skin, leaving everything else but the blood... Which we believe was taken through a bite mark on their back." Diego stood there, with a confused look on his face, "And you think it was me... How?" Fang looked at the body. "Well it was in your territory, how could you not know it was there?"

Diego was starting to get annoyed,"Maybe because I just entered this area a couple seconds ago... I'm leaving. Good luck with whatever you're doing." Both weasels watched as he left."Zepp... Do me a favor... Never talk to strangers when I'm not around." Zepp chuckled, "Are you going to stand there and mock me or come check out something interesting that I found?" Fang walked over to the body, Zepp picked up the arm.

"Hear me... And it appears to have been scarred on her... After death I think." Fang patted Zepps back, "Good work, but what does it mean? Zepp stood there, thinking..." I'm going to go check on our other victim. You coming?" Fang nodded, and both went back to the first scene. When they arrived the body appeared to not have been touched. Zepp walked over to it and checked the body's arm. "My body..." It was scarred in all capital letters. "How did you know it would be there Zepp?" Zepp looked Back at Fang, "When someone or something is writing a message on a body or an area around the body, they generally want to leave a trail behind. So as of right now we have two messages...'My Body' and 'Hear Me'." Fang nodded, "And the two seemingly have no correlation-"

Zepp put his finger up to quiet Fang. In the distance there was a scream. Zepp looked at Fang, "That's probably our guys handy work." Fang sighed and both ran towards the scream. They started to run full speed towards the noise until they heard the most awful noise, the sounds of bones cracking and roaring. _Whatever this thing is... It's freaking HUGE!_ Both of them came to a line of bushes, in which they hid. In front of them laid another body, contorted and broken like the rest.

Zepp walked out slowly, looking around for anything. Fang backed him up, his bow in his hands. "Why you never arm yourself in these situations is beyond me.", said Fang. Zepp was now in front of the body, and made a horrific discovery...

"FANG! GET OVER HERE NOW!" Fang ran over to Zepp and his hair instantly stood on end..

The victim was laying on the ground, her skin gone, and she was still breathing. Fang turned around and covered his face, he felt like he was about to gag. Zepp tried to talk to her, and as he did Fang noticed something on the tree he was facing, "Zepp it's the same symbol... On the tree."

"Ma'am... What did this to you?" The female weasel weezed, she was dying. "It came out of nowhere..." Zepp looked at her arm, sure enough... "Ill" was the word that was scarred on her. He looked at her, "Do you know what it was?" The girl weakly shook her head, he was going to ask her something else, but she was lifeless now.

Zepp looked past her body, and saw footprints, wolf footprints. "Fang!" Fang rushed over to him, "Look at this... We got something." Fang looked at the footprints, Well... Let's follow them. Lesson of the day Zepp, always follow footprints... Because they will lead you somewhere." Zepp rolled his eyes, "If you were any more sarcastic I would have suggested that you were joking. Come on."

They followed the footprints, intent on finding the animal that traveled through here. It took them all the way to a cave by a waterfall. When Zepp got near it he covered his nose, a strong musty odor filled it. "Yea... Something definitely lives here Fang." Fang walked up beside him and covered his nose as well. "Ugh... Smells like wet dog."

They both went inside of the cave, swords drawn in case something tried to attack. They looked around, trying to find whatever lived there, but to no avail. Zepp did however notice something quite odd. "Hey Fang. It seems whoever lives here likes to doodle." Fang looked at the wall that Zepp was studying and saw four spirals engraved. The first two were separated, but the next two were close together. "Huh..." Zepp walked to the back of the cave, and finding nothing decided it was time to leave. "Come on Fang, let's go back. There's nothing here." They left and began to walk back, halfway there Zepp saw movement in the bushes, and signaled for Fang to stay put. Zepp called out, "Whoever's there come out now!" No answer, no movement. Zepp looked back at Fang, "If anything moves .. Shoot it." Fang nodded and Zepp walked forward, as silently as he could. He grabbed out his dagger and was about ready to attack whatever was in the bushes when an orange form jumped out at him.

"ZEPP!"


	4. Well, Okay Zepp

**Chapter four! I keep forgetting... I do not own Ice Age.**

Zepp stumbled and fell, falling down a small hill, when he hit the bottom he was surprised to find that what attacked him wasn't so ferocious. "Ha! Gotcha!" It was a saber, juvenile, and it was staring right at the weasel, smiling. Zepp pushed it off and got up, brushing himself off. He gave the smilodon a devious smile, jumped and shouted, then laughed at how high the child jumped. The child, so amused by this act began to laugh at himself, obviously enjoying himself.

"ZEPP! ARE YOU-" Fang reached the edge of the hill, and grumbled at the sight... There was Zepp, playing with the juvenile saber.

The saber got into a play bow, "Zepp? That's a funny name," the child laughed. Zepp rubbed the back of his neck, he thought the same... But didn't want to change it for some unknown reason. "So kid.. What's your name?"

"My names Koda!" Zepp smiled, "A rather curious name for a saber, tell me.. What are you doing out here?" Koda looked up at Fang, "I'm hunting with my dad!" Zepps smile faded, "Your da- AGH!" Zepp was surprised and knocked off of his feet, on top of him was a bigger saber, he instantly recognized him. "Diego?" The saber growled, "DON'T YOU GO NEAR MY KID AGAIN!" Fang stumbled down the hill, and put his arms out, as if it would calm the situation. "Whoa whoa whoa! Don't... Don't hurt him..." Diego looked over at Fang. "Wait a minute... Oh no... Not you two again." He got off of Zepp, who brushed off a bit of saliva that got on his garb, "Yea .. It's us, fancy seeing you again. Cool kid by the way." Diego growled, underneath him was Koda, who was smiling. "Yea... Thanks.. What are you doing out here?"

"Official investigator business, we don't talk about it to outsiders." Diego rolled his eyes, "Oh.. Right you're looking for the murderer." Fang slowly turned his head towards Zepp, "Why... Just why.." Zepp walked towards Diego, "I trust that he isn't who we're looking for, sabers don't kill like that."

"What's going on, I'm hearing-" a female saber walked up beside Diego and gasped. "What? Diego.. You aren't seriously thinking that this will make a meal..."

"Here we go.." Fang retorted."For the last time-"

" Koda found them, luckily they didn't harm him."

"Hey listen buddy, we-" Fang was interrupted by a chilling scream that rang out, all five of them turned in the direction it came from... Up the hill and towards the cave. Fang turned to Zepp and then ran, Zepp following. Diego and his mate followed, Koda right behind them. When they found the source they saw a saber bite into the back of a weasel.

"FREEZE!" both investigators said in unison, the beast turned around and ran, Zepp running after it. Fang stayed and checked out the body. Everything was the same about the victim except for the skin which remained. The victim was dead, and as Fang reached for its arm the skin began to disintegrate. "Now this is new..." Fang picked up the arm, there was nothing on it at first, but then markings began to appear on it. As he watched, the word "See" formed on her.

Zepp ran as fast as he could after the saber, but he should only go so fast. The saber quickly ran out of his view, and he stopped, dropping the pursuit. "Damn..." He heard a growl just ahead of him, hoping it would be what he was looking for he ran towards it. He reached a break in the foliage, and was met with a familiar face.

"Hello Zepp." It was Locke, and he was alone in the was breathing heavily, "Sir, what are you doing out here? It's too dangerous." Locke looked around him, "Where's your partner?"

"He's checking out the scene of another crime, did you see the saber go through here?" Locke looked down, "No, why?"

"... What are you doing out here?"

"Just getting some air, it was getting rather boring back at the village. So I figured I'd go for a walk."

Zepp figured he wasn't going to get much more out of him."Sir please get back to safety, you shouldn't be out here." The King nodded, "yea I agree, kind of a wretched place in my opinion." He walked by Zepp, who contemplated the encounter.

Fang caught up with Zepp, who watched as Locke walked away, "What's he doing out here?" Zepp shook his head, "Fang... Do you ever get the feeling that you're so close to your goal, but no where close to the truth... Like you're reaching the end, but in the end there is nothing for you?"

"Are you suggesting that we break off and let this thing roam near the village?"

Zepps ears perked up, "Say that again." Fang looked up at him, "Break off?"

"After that."

"Let this this thing roam near the village?"

"Bingo."

"Now what?" Zepp turned to Fang. "Make a map of the surrounding area where the kill sites are located. I'll be back. Fang watched him walk off," AND WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO SHOW?"

 **"Hear me ", " My body", "Ill", and" See"... Still no sign of a suspect, and four spirals in the cave, the first two being spaced out, the other two close together... What does it all mean? And why does Zepp want Fang to make a trail of the killings? WHAT IS GOING ON!? Tell me what YOU think. ..Don't worry, it gets better.**


	5. It'll Kill again

Zepp walked back towards the saber family, they were standing there, must have watched the entire thing because Diego had a rather annoyed look on his face. "So... Are you going to tell us what happened or are you going to attend there and-"

"We don't know what happened... We thought we had it, but we didn't." Koda walked up to Zepp, "Are you like a cop?" Zepp looked at him, "Uh... In a way."Koda got excited at this, "I've never met a cop before! That's so cool! Do you like chase down the bad guys, save people's lives!?" Zepp didn't exactly know how to answer that... He can catch the bad guys, but saving people? He didn't exactly have a good reputation for doing that... "Uhhhh..." He kneeled down, "You know what kid, yea... Yea we do." Diego calmed his demeanor, a little more trusting of the weasel. "Have you got anything to catch this guy?"

"It's not a 'guy'... It's a 'thing'..." Diego's ears rose up," What do you mean?"

" Well... Fang will never agree to this.. But I think that this might be the work of the Moshikba. It's a half saber half wolf like creature which feeds off of another animals skin to rejuvenate it's life force, then bites into the persons back, although not the best place to draw blood that's how it feeds so it doesn't go hungry. That was my original theory."

"And your new theory?"

"My new theory is that the Moshikba uses it's environment as some sort of cloak, blending in with its surroundings so it can't be seen... When I pursued it I lost the target, but I could feel that it was still around."

"You're crazy. That sounds absolutely crazy." Diego wasn't buying the theory, it was too out there for him.

"Yea... I've been told that. Listen, if you guys see anything... Anything at all...You can come down to our village, it's three miles from here. I'll explain to whoever decides to run away."

Diego nodded, "Will do. Come on Shira, let's go home." All three sabers began to walk away from Zepp, who was going back to the village. When he arrived he saw everyone gather up in front of a platform where a rather large weasel was preaching about the Moshikba, going on about how it will devour your kids if you aren't careful, them proceeded to try and sell an elixir which would mask you from such a thing. _What a nitwit... I can't_ _believe people buy into that sort of thing._

He walked over to an old, worn hut, and inside he was met with John Daffer, a once hermit who decided that his old age would not be beneficial to his secluded ways of living. "Zepp... How are you my friend?" He said puffing off of a wooden pipe he made himself back when he was in his youth. The smell of smoke filled the room, Zepp could see wisps of it traveling through the air, giving it a sort of misty atmosphere. "I'm fine Daffer, but I come to you for some advice."

"Any time is good for giving lessons to the youngins." He gave one big puff, the smoke covering his face for a moment. "Come, sit down, tell me what's on your mind." Zepp walked over to his side and sat down in a chair, both of them facing the wall in a slightly angled fashion. "Daffer... We've found evidence in the case... And I think you may be right." Daffer held the pipe close to his face and looked over to Zepp, "The Moshikba..". Zepp nodded, " Yes... and I need you to tell me what you know about it, no stories." Daffer smiled and chuckled, "Well... The Moshikba as you know is a half saber, half wolf like creature that feeds off of both the skin and blood of its victims, this much I've told you.. But I fear I left out some things. And I think you know this."

"Yes.." Daffer shook his head a bit. "How I would have liked to see it... One last time. It is true that my old age has nearly crippled me, I am beginning to feel a bit thin.. brittle... The creatures that have haunted these lands are something to behold Zepp, not condemn. They too, are part of our ecosystem. They balance it, giving it just a tiny nudge to sit on top of the tip of the knife. To kill them would to destroy the very thing that makes this world worth pondering about... The creature, Zepp.. Is not just some thing that kills to live.. It kills because it has to. And it will kill again"

Zepps eyes widened a bit at this. "What do you mean.. Why does it have to kill? That goes against the concept of free will." Daffer laughed, "Oh how naive you are my friend.. But that's OK, you're learning. It kills because it is cursed. It cannot die unless it doesn't feed, the skin is like it's Fountain of Youth. The blood is it's food. You have no doubt found out about the curse. Everytime it kills it leaves behind a symbol... A body being held by ropes, around it a circle." Zepp listened intently, it was making sense now.

"The body being held by the ropes is it telling everyone that its stuck, it can't move out of this stage. The circle surrounding it is it's way of understanding. It's self aware that it is cursed. This is it's way of telling you it's problem. This is-"

Zepp finished his sentence, "A cry for help..." Daffer nodded, "In a way.. I'm guessing you've found something else?" Zepp drew I'm a breath of air through his nose, his chest expanding a bit. "It left messages.. We've found four so far." Daffer puffed on his pipe again, and moaned as he shifted in his chair, "What messages has it left?" Zepp looked out, thinking about it as he listed them.. "Hear me... My body... Ill... and see. All scarred into the body's muscle." Daffer raised his eyebrows, "Well.. That's rather curious... I couldn't say much about that, only that it may be another way of it trying to reach out to whoever will listen. This creature is much smarter than any of us, and it speaks only in riddles... Only a person who reads in between the lines could understand." Zepp looked at Gaffer, who in turn smiled and glanced at him. Zepp was about to speak when Fang entered the room.

"Zepp... There's something you should see, I think we got what we need to catch this thing." Zepp got up from the chair, and looked back at Daffer, "Thank you for everything, John." Daffer bowed his head and brought up a hand, "Anytime, Zepp. Peace be with you." Zepp nodded and left, joining Fang.

" You're still listening to that guy?" Both of them were walking in a semi hastened manner."Yea, and he's only reinforced my theory. " Fang shook his head, "Theory? Zepp... Please.. You've been my friend and partner through many trials and tribulations... Do not tell me you actually believe that some sort of half breed is killing weasels to..to satiate it's need to live.. Especially in such a way that defies our biological works.. It's simply not possible, and even if it were it would still be far fetched as to believe that this thing-"

"Is asking for help, and knows that we are searching for it. Fang this thing is cursed.. It can't stop feeding, it wants to but it can't. As for the symbol it left behind, I talked to Daffer-"

"Who is an old hermit and can tell you many crazy stories about his past, BUT NONE CAN BE PROVEN OR CORROBORATED!" Zepp stopped, Fang taking a few more steps before doing the same and turning around to face him, "Zepp...this theory of yours..." He struggled to find the right words, "It... It can't be proven, nor can it be biologically possible. The amount of blood it would take for an animal that size to be able to survive would need to be much larger than that of a weasel."

"Maybe it doesn't just kill weasels... What if weasels are its way of sending a message, a cry for help?" Fang sighed, "Well.. That would be one messed up cry for help... Zepp..." He took a couple steps forward, "Listen man... It's one thing to entertain a wild theory, and I can do that... But to invest in them... That's a whole other story, one in which I cannot write. I deal with facts."

"Yea? and what are the facts Fang?"

"That this is some elaborate plan to throw us off, obviously done by some genius madman who-" Zepp shook his head in protest, "No.. No.. No.. You're wrong Fang... It can't be."

"THEN WHAT IS IT ZEPP!? WHAT IN THE HELL IS IT!? THE BOOGEYMAN? BIGFOOT!? EVEN THOSE THEORIES WOULD BE WAY MORE PLAUSIBLE! OUR PEOPLE ARE DYING ZEPP!" He pointed at Zepp, the movement of his finger giving emphasis of accusation. "AND YOU CAN'T EVEN BRING YOURSELF TO GIVE THEM SOME HOPE BY EXPLAINING THIS RATIONALLY!" Fangs breathing became irregular, his heart was pounding. He just couldn't understand why Zepp wouldn't see things for what they are. Even more curious was the fact that even though he was yelling at him, Zepp remained calm throughout the entire thing. In a calm collected voice, he responded.

"Then I would be lying. Giving them false hope is worse than giving no hope. To give the illusion of it would make me feel worse, at least by depriving them of it you are letting them know that you're in the same boat." Fang brought both of his hands to his face, covering it. He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm down. "You and I both know what we saw... You can't deny it, I ran after it Fang... As fast as I could, and it got away. I thought I lost it but then I started to hear some growling ahead of my location, so I followed it. When I got there... I found Locke."

"Locke? What was Locke doing out of the village? He knows that it isn't safe out there..." Zepp walked towards Fang, and pointed towards his hut. They both entered it, Zepp continuing with a quieter voice.

"He said he was going for a walk in the forest. When I tried getting information out of him he seemed to brush it off, asking me questions instead. There was something else, Fang..."

"What?"

"I felt like I was being watched, that something was in the bushes... And at his feet were a couple of snowed in tracks. They were wolfish."

"Zepp..." He interrupted Fang, bringing his hand up to his mouth, and.. Almost as if he knew it would happen, there was a male weasel that they heard outside, he was screaming "IT GOT ANOTHER ONE!" repeatedly. Fang raised an eyebrow to Zepp, and both left the tent. They walked up to the first person they saw, it was a woman, tears rolling down her face. "Ma'am.. Where is it, where is the body?" The woman was hyperventilating, and through it she managed to tell them, "In... The.. Forest... It's awful.. Right.. outside the village!" They told her to go into her hut, and both of them left.

When they arrived at the scene they were met with a familiar sight... Female weasel, young, skin was missing and a bite mark on her back. No blood. Zepp immediately looked at her arm, and read aloud the message:

"Can't prevent."

 **Alright! On to the next! Tell me what you think about this story so far, is it good? Bad? Too early to tell? I'm interested in anything and everything you have to say ;) don't be shy!**


	6. Use The Sequence

"Fang, what else do you see?" Zepp put the arm down and stood up.

"Nothing, there's nothing else." Fang walked around the area, he saw the same symbol, but it was hard for him to make out any tracks. "It's as if whatever is doing this isn't even walking. There's no tracks around, no nothing."

"Alright..." He thought for a moment. _We have no suspects... No clues other than these messages... I don't understand what we're to make of all of this... How do we catch this thing... We don't even know.._ he perked his ears, and smiled. _Make a map. Fang already has! That's right!_ "Fang! Come here!" Fang walked over to Zepp, "What is it?" Zepp got up and kept a big smile across his face. "The map please. I'd like to see the relative location of each murder." Fang reached into his garb, and pulled out a scroll. He opened it, Zepp taking a look. It showed a detailed drawing of the landscape, and several dots spread across it. "Okay, now which one was first?"

Fang pointed to the one that was right outside the village."The second one was a bit of a ways out, here." He brought his finger away from the village, the dot being diagonal from the first. "The third would be here." His finger traveled down, diagonally to the right of the village. "The fourth being right here." His finger traveled closer to the one furthest away. "And this one would be..." He marked the location.. Nearby the one closest to the village. Zepp grabbed the map. He studied it, trying to find the correlation, when it hit him... "It's a spiral."

Fans eyes widened in surprise,"What?" Zepp went on. "And not just a spiral... But the Golden Spiral." Fang was confused at this, "What do you mean 'Golden Spiral'?"

Zepp looked at Fang,"The golden spiral is perhaps the greatest work of nature that we have ever seen. It works off of complete symmetry, its perfection. If you were to take a rose or a shell and look at the design on them, you would notice that it forms a spiral. A rams horn does as well. It's done by taking the origin, and drawing a perfect spiral, the measurement taken by a factor of PHI for every quarter turn it makes, getting bigger as you go along. Within the spiral you draw a square and it gets larger. It's best known for the Fibbonacci sequence, at the center you start with 1, then you build off of the list by taking the next number and adding it to the first... 1,1,2,3,5,8 and so on."

"Wow... Good job Zepp." Zepp continued, "So... Using this... We can determine that the killers next move would be... Here." He pointed at the center of-"The Village? Why would he kill in the most densely populated area for miles?" Zepp stood there and thought, then came up with an idea.""Oh no.. It's not working alone... Fang we have to get back as fast as possible." They both started to sprint back, the foliage giving them some minor cuts as they ran by. "What are you talking about Zepp!? Who is working with it?"

"DID YOU JUST CALL IT AN 'IT'!?"

"Well.. Considering what's been going on so far.. I think it's safe to assume that anything is possible! BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I THINK IT'S THE MOSHIKBA!" They made it back to the village, and found it to be abandoned.. Silent.. "Zepp... What's going on?" Zepp walked forward slowly, being as silent as possible. "We'll split up, check each hut." Fang nodded and they both took different sides.

Zepp looked inside of them, one by one. He took note of the fact that none of them seemed to be touched. In fact... It looked like no one had ever been there save for all of the possessions inside of the huts. He looked down on the ground, and noticed that there were a flurry of footprints. _They ran..._

Fang was on the opposite side, checking out the huts on his side, again, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary other than the bad vibes that he was getting from the sudden abandonment. They both met back up at the kings hut, each one confident with their abilities, ready for whatever would attack.

Zepp looked at Fang with a look that gave both of them a sense of calm and allowed them to think ahead of them. If they weren't in this situation you'd almost think that they were pretending, and that every emotion they felt was a work of the creation of the situation at hand, conjured up so that their minds thought it was real. And with that sense of calm.. They stormed the hut.

Inside it was a wreck, papers were strewn across the place, ripped up and destroyed. "Well someone had a bad attitude." Fang smiled at the joke but it quickly faded and his demeanor turned back to serious. And it was in this moment of chaos that the realization had hit him...

"Yea... And where's Locke?" Zepp looked at Fang, having an apparent expression of classlessness in the question.

 **Hmmmm... Well I won't say much here, but what I will say is this: when it comes to this story, the Fibonacci sequence is very important. I'll give you a clue: you will only need to use the numbers for six letters. Each one comes from a word or phrase already spoken both in the story and out. You are now a detective yourself in this little game, let's see if you can find the answer. Oh... And don't think about it too hard.**


	7. Zepp To the Rescue

**I'm not sure what happened to this chapter, but for those of you who are reading this story I'm going to have to completely redo it.(the chapter, not the story). It seemed to have uploaded itself as a copy of chapter 6.. Not sure how.**

 **I'll redo it as soon as I have the time.**


	8. A New Recruit

They made their way through the forest, Zepp trying his best to keep as much weight as he could off of Fang, who was helping him keep his balance. It was a silent night, not a sound for miles. All four of them found the silence rather majestic, and in their tranced states decided that their voices weren't needed. The only thing they heard was Koda, who periodically gave them directions as to where his home was, which they finally reached after a couple hours. "Alright Koda.. Good job." Said Zepp. They reached a cave, and surrounding it was a group of animals. From what Zepp could see it was made of three Mammoths, two sloths and two possums. This confused him.

"Koda... Are you sure we're in the right place?" Koda nodded, "Yea, this is my family. Come on I'll introduce you!" He jumped out of Zepps arms and ran towards the group, Edon stayed, sleeping in Zepps arm, which was curled to make a platform for him. Deciding that they had nothing else planned, they made themselves known.

As soon as they left the cover of the bushes they were met with a bunch of gasps, the female mammoth walked up to them. "Koda says you're the ones that brought him back. Is this true?"

Fang nodded, "Yes... Yes it is. He's lucky, my friend here was the one that saved him, I was unconscious at the time." The mammoth took one look at Zepp, who was facing the ground, exhausted. "Who's the pup?" Fang responded with calm, almost whisper like voice, "We don't know, he was the other child involved in the attack... Can we please get him somewhere so he can lay down? He's exhausted." The mammoth agreed, and Fang brought him into the cave so he could do just that. "My names Ellie, just so you know. Don't worry, he'll be fine. Now we're just waiting for Diego."

"You guys all live together?" Ellie shook her head,"Yea, we're a herd."

"A herd? Well... How nice. Excuse me though, I have to tend to him." Ellie nodded, "He looks pretty banged up, don't worry though, you guys are safe here." Fang walked into the cave, and as he did Diego and Shira came back, earning a warm welcome from their son."KODA! Oh I'm so happy you're okay, we were so worried about you!" Koda nudged Shiras leg, "I'm fine mom, Zepp brought me back." Diego looked around, "Where is he now?" Koda pointed towards the cave. Diego walked towards it, when he reached the mouth of it he saw a very banged up Zepp and Fang patching up his gashes. Fang looked over, spotting Diego, "Are you looking for an invitation, if so I'd be happy to give you one, for a fee that is." Diego chuckled, "I'm actually looking for a reservation." Fang looked at him, studying him and, finding his sincerity left Zepp and Diego alone.

"Diego, if you're going to thank me I am going to have to ask you to save it. I don't do well with that sort of thing."

"Okay, then would you give me some insight as to where you found him? Shira and I were looking everywhere."

Zepp looked up at him, Diego... Do you believe that there are things out there that we don't understand or just can't comprehend? Like, that there are forces at work that go beyond conventional and logical beliefs in this world. And these forces... When brought to the surface, completely boggle the mind, giving room for us to question and look at this world in a bigger, more extensive point of view?" Diego didn't know how to handle the question, but managed to reply the best he can..

"Yes. Yes, and I've seen some of these things. But... I don't see how that helps."

"It does help, because you now know that what happened tonight was something that was not of a logical force. I can't explain what happened... I should have died Diego, but that thing didn't kill e, and I think I know why... I... We answered it's call for help. It wanted to be known, as all things do. It not only wanted to be known, but to be recognized as what it is: a sentient being, just like the rest of us. In the end, that's all anyone wants." Diego sat there, pondering what he heard, "Get some rest." Be went to go leave but stopped, wanting to know something else.

"What about the Wolf?"

"I'll deal with it, could you send him in? His name is Edon." Diego nodded and left, a couple seconds later Zepp heard the pitter patter of little paws hitting the ground, followed by a friendly, "Hi Zepp!"

"Hey kiddo. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine now that it's over."

"Good. So.." Zepp hesitated for a moment, "I was wondering Edon... What.. Did happen to your family?" Edon sighed and laid down next to Zepp, who was on his side now, both animals facing each other.

"They.. Died. In a fire. The whole pack got separated. After it ended I went back to find them. I did.. But..."

"Yea.. I know. So what happened afterwards?"

" I walked, I walked and didn't stop. After a couple days I found this area, and decided to settle down. Then they came and took me."

"So... You don't have anyone to take care of you?" Edon frowned, "No. No one. I'm all alone."

"Zepp smiled, formulating an idea in his head. "Well.. If you'd like, I could.. You know, take you in. I'm probably not the best animal for it, but who knows? You may even end up on the team. That is... If you want to."

Edon smiled at this, his shining orbs telling Zepp that his spirits were brightened. "You mean... I could fight the bad guys? With you and Fang?"

Zepp laughed, "Well, there will be a lot of training involved... But yea, yea that's right kid, you could."

"YEA! YES I WOULD LOVE TO!" Edon jumped around Zepp, overjoyed at the opportunity that has been offered to him. "Agent Edon is on the case!" He said in a proud tone. Zepp laughed again, amused by the energetic wolf. "Alright kid. Now, I'm kind of tired, so if you don't mind I think I'm about to pass out cold on this floor right now. I'll talk to you when I wake up."

"Alright Zepp." Edon left, happy about the outcome of the night. He met Fang outside by the fire.

"So tell us, Fang. What happened tonight?" Manny asked, wondering like all of the others.

Fang shifted in his spot, and rubbed his fingers along his chin, trying to find the right answer. " Well, I mean it's uh, the sort of thing you would have to see to believe...I couldn't tell you much about it, but... It uh... I, can't accept it. I know it happened but... I can't. Not yet at least."

After a while they all went to bed, and dreamed good dreams. In the morning Zepp, Fang and Edon left, returning to their home to find everything back to normal. The village had voted on a new King, and all talk of what happened that had officially become legend. It was, as it could be put, the dawning of a new way of thinking for the investigators, even more so for Fang, who had just finished writing the report on the investigation, in which his conclusion was, and I quote:

 _"An undeniably perplexing investigation into the singularity of our conscious state of mind, which after a new experience, be stretched to the point where it cannot return to its normal dimensionality at which it was previously positioned."_

Fang put down the writing utensil, and stared at the sentence. After a brief moment of recapping the events that have taken place, he stood up and left, going to get some fresh air.

" Fang? Fang are you in here? Fang I-" Zepp stared at the vacant room. It left an eerie sense of calm. He entered, looking at all of the documents and files that were on Fangs desk. One entry in particular caught his attention. Feeling kind of snoopy, he picked it up and read it. It was a diary entry, dated today. His curiosity overwhelmed him, and he read it.

 _Dear diary,_

 _It has come to my attention that, due to a rather extensive series of superfluous events I write this entry knowing that, as a fact my life will never be the same. After all of my years solving crimes, catching criminals and delivering justice to those in need of it I have never encountered such a thing so complex yet so... True. The intension of this life I take as my own, although I am not sure as of now if that's entirely true was at first one to take a hold of and control. Now it has been revealed that this is no longer the case._

 _My preconceptions as an investigator was that, even be it as logical as it sounds that things are indeed as they seem. But, during my encounter with nature I have officially decided that this in itself would be quite inaccurate, even more so the realization that who am I to proclaim such a philosophy. The things that I have seen, originally would have been put off as unlikely or ludicrous.. But it seems my partner has blown that off of the roof._

 _His preconception as an investigator is, it seems, much more adequate and acceptable, albeit not to the customs of those around him. He takes things, and instantly sees an unlimited amount of possibility hidden within them... A perfect unification between perspective and reality. It is this ideology, which before was seen as nonsense, had become more realistic than previously imagined:_

 _"Nothing lies beyond the realm of extreme possibility, and the truth, no matter how professionally hidden, is out there."_

 _There are forces, beyond our own reckoning, that have taken control of our lives. These forces define what we are, but not who we are.. And it is through the will of these forces that we_ _question the very fabric of the aforementioned preconceived notion of the self..._

 **Done! For now... Tell me what you think! Was it good? Bad? Don't be shy, I take everything you guys have to say into consideration. I will go ahead and say that without a doubt you guys reading these has given me enough motivation to continue to write. I'll tell you what, there is more to come with these three characters, I'm actually thinking about putting them down in my profile, everyone else seems to be doing it :3.**


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